


Will TJ Ever Catch a Break?

by queenofthefallenfics



Category: The Good Cop (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cora Knows Exactly What She's Doing, Deviates From Canon, F/M, Feels, Gen, Idiots in Love, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pre-Relationship, References to Depression, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Build, TJ Deserves the World, Unrequited Love, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21655057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofthefallenfics/pseuds/queenofthefallenfics
Summary: Set around 1x10.When Captain Delgetty discusses Cora's performance review with TJ, gears start to turn in his head. The next day, running from Cora, he starts to think that maybe, just maybe, the Captain wasn't talking nonsense.
Relationships: Anthony "TJ" Caruso Jr./Cora Vasquez
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Will TJ Ever Catch a Break?

“Caruso, can I have a word with you?”

TJ looked up to see the Captain in the doorway of his office. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, springboarding to his feet. “What’s wrong?”

Delgetty took a look behind her at the empty office, orange street lights streaking across desks. She shut the door behind her and sat down. In her hand was a slim manila folder, containing two sheets, stapled together. TJ knew they were stapled together because he stapled them, just thirty minutes ago, about five minutes after Cora left.

TJ also knew that at the top of the papers the words **PERFORMANCE REVIEW** yelled at the reader. 

“This is Det. Vasquez’s performance review,” she told him. “Tell me why this is the second one you gave my assistant?”

TJ swallowed, trying to wiggle his way out of this without . . . wiggling. “Well, you see,” he stammered. “There was a, a typo on the first review. So, I just took it back and then edited it and gave it back to you.”

Delgetty gave him a flat look and TJ just barely avoided physically wiggling. It wasn’t a lie—it wasn’t! There was a typo. But Delgetty just sat there, waiting for him to crack.

When he was a new cop, TJ saw Delgetty in an interrogation once or twice. She’d treat a prep just like she was currently treating him—give a tiny slip of information and then let it sit that, taking up more space than once could ever imagine a piece of paper or two taking. And TJ, even though it killed him, was going to sit there and say nothing.

And so the two of them sat there, the silence suffocating them both.

Surprisingly, it was Delgetty herself who cracked. “Listen, TJ, I don’t know what made you change your report, but I need to know why you gave Cora, who by all accounts—even yours!—has been exemplary, a zero in respect for authority. Why she went down in four other categories?”

“She went up in two,” TJ mumbled, hoping to diffuse the situation.

Delgetty gave him a flat look and cleared her throat, an uncomfortable expression crossing her face. “Listen, TJ, I’m not blind. I know that there’s something between the two of you-”

“What!” he squawked. “I don’t—there’s nothing—infraction!”

“Don’t interrupt,” she snapped. “I know there’s something going on and I don’t want to know. I trust that the both of you are adults and can handle this professionally, but this? TJ, this is the _epitome_ of unprofessionalism.”

The hot flush of shame crawled up the back of his neck, but he forced himself to stay quiet. He evaluated Cora fairly and, he believed, honestly. Where the Captain saw hints of unprofessionalism, TJ didn’t know. 

“TJ, you were the one to push me to get Cora on this task force in the first place, right?” she asked. When he nodded, she continued, “So what’s changed?”

TJ kept his mouth shut until he was sure he could speak to her without acting insubordinate. And as silence filled the room again, he thought of Cora.

Cora, the only person on the force to believe, really believe, in his father. Cora, the partner with the quick jokes. Cora, the partner who had been through so much, yet still kept going through everything. Cora, the partner who gave as good as she got, sometimes better even.

Hell, Cora, the partner who _ran_.

And there was only one thing for him to do—

“Nothing changed,” he lied. “The most recent investigation simply caused me to look Det. Vasquez with a fresh set of eyes.”

“That’s bull,” Delgetty snorted, instantly. “Should I tell you what I think?”

 _No_.

“I think that you’re scared, TJ. Scared of losing Cora before you’re ready. Scared of getting too close to someone. Scared of seeing Cora leave. Scared of lov—”

“I think that’s enough,” he blurted out. In an instant, he was horrified at what he did, but Delgetty took it like a champ, just raising her brow. “I understand,” he lied again, “why you may think that, but it’s not right. I mean, she held an alligator to my face!” he reminded her. “And she called me a virgin! And Squeaky!”

Delgetty just raised a brow, but as the echoes from his protest faded away, he sat there, feeling more than slightly humiliated.

“Well, let me give you some advice,” Delgetty said, walking over to sit on the edge of his desk. “Cora’s a good cop, a better woman. She respects honesty and she respects you. Sit down, have a coffee, and talk about this eval with her. Thoroughly.”

TJ ignored the sly wink and cleared his throat. “Thanks for the advice, Captain,” he said, already disregarding it.

“Have a good night, TJ. And don’t stay too late,” she said. Delgetty left him alone and TJ sat in his office, the yellow lamplight washing over piles of paperwork.

He _wasn’t_ scared of losing Cora. Furthermore, he wasn’t in lo—

TJ cut himself off and shut the lamp off. It wasn’t exactly pitch-black, but it was dark enough for him to take off his glasses and bury his face in his hands. He let a few tears slip out, catching them in his hands before they could even think about hitting the ground. He wasn’t crying because of Cora, he told himself, just the stress of work. But when a few tears started to fall, so did others.

And so there TJ sat, crying in his dark office, over a woman who could barely stand him as a boss, tolerated him as a partner, and would beat the shit out of him the moment she got her Performance Review back. Cora would never care about him again, especially not like he cared about her.

Loneliness wrapped around him like a blanket and TJ was reminded of that dumb kids show his father was obsessed with, _Big Teeth_ , or something. He only caught a few minutes of it here and there, but one image stuck with him. Some giant purple cat wrapping itself around a preteen girl.

TJ felt as though a giant purple cat was wrapping itself around him, whispering in his ear. _Of course, she’d never like you. You, the partner who gives her grief over a set of rules people half-follow? You, the boss who nitpicks almost everything she does and micro-manages the rest? Don’t be ridiculous, TJ darling._

At the nickname his mother gave him, he started out of his depressed headspace. She would’ve hated to see him like this, crying, moping in the dark.

TJ scrubbed the tears off his face and shoved his glasses back on. Turning on the lamplight, he quickly put all his folders away and then left his office, locking the door. He caught a glimpse of himself in the window pane and winced. If he showed up at home looking like this, his father would be all over him. And the last thing he wanted was Tony the Tiger asking questions about why he (a grown man, mind you!) was crying.

But, in his rush to get rid of his red eyes, he forgot all about the text he had planned to send Cora, asking to sit down with her for coffee or a sandwich sometime soon.

He forgot about it until Cora came into the squad room, full of anger and frustration at him and the Performance Review. TJ tried to explain his reasoning behind it, but he couldn’t get a word in around her barrage of complaints and semi-insults. At least, however, she let him breathe when after standing guard at his door for three hours straight, she had to leave to run to the restroom.

“None of you tell her where I’m going,” TJ ordered Burl and Ryan, coat half-on as he raced from his office. He was gone before he could hear their replies and, within ten minutes, he was hunkered down in a little cafe, a few blocks from the precinct, working on his paperwork as two coffees and two sandwiches waited on the table next to his files.

“Caruso!”

Cora exploded into the otherwise quiet cafe, startling a few kids on laptops and the two servers. She flushed, halting in her steps as she realized how loud she was, but TJ just got to his feet and waved her over.

“Less than ten minutes. A new record. Nice job, Cora,” he complimented.

She sat down, eyeing him suspiciously. “Was this a test?” she hissed, eyes narrowed and sharp.

“Of sorts,” he said, shrugging slightly. “I meant to speak with you earlier, but better late than never, I guess.”

She took a look at the two mugs and chose the coffee without milk, without sugar and her usual ham and cheese sandwich. “About what?” she asked, suspiciously.

“I meant to explain my reasoning behind your new evaluation, but I got distracted by something and forget to tell you about it before you got it. I’m sorry,” he apologized earnestly. TJ hoped that she could see how much he meant what he was telling her. “I won’t let it happen again.”

And like an old balloon, slowly, Cora deflated, her anger leaving her. “Ok,” she said. “But, TJ, don’t let it happen again.” He swore it wouldn’t happen again and she smiled at him. “Good, sitting outside your door is so uncomfortable. Makes me feel like I’m back in high school.”

TJ laughed, taking a sip of his coffee. “Well, I’m glad that you view me as some type of authority figure. Even if it’s your hated high school principal,” he said.

“I see you as an authority figure,” Cora protested. When TJ gave her a flat look, she rolled her eyes. “I do! Not one that I listen to often, maybe—”

“Maybe,” TJ repeated mockingly.

“ _Maybe_ ,” Cora emphasized, “but I do respect you, TJ.”

She reached out to grab his hand and _oh_ , TJ never realized just how soft Cora’s hand was. He knew she used lotion, he almost used it as toothpaste back at the Drake, but she obviously used it a lot. TJ held her hand and, for a moment, he imagined they were out on a date, not having a meeting concerning Cora’s performance review.

“I guess I just need help showing you the way I respect you,” Cora said, looking at him with wide eyes.

A dozen thoughts leaped to mind, only a few of them professional. TJ coughed and let go of Cora’s hand to grab his sandwich and shove a bite in his mouth before he could say something he’d regret. Cora gave him a weird look, but let it pass, acting as if she had never said anything at all. They finished their sandwiches in silence, Cora pulling out a small book from her bag as TJ finished up his paperwork.

“What were you reading?” he asked as they began their walk back to the precinct.

“Oh, some dime-store romance novel,” Cora said unabashedly.

“Cora Vasquez, a romantic at heart?” He wasn’t teasing in the slightest, just surprised. Although given her string of . . . _partners_ , maybe she did believe in love at first sight.

“Sometimes,” she shrugged. She hesitated, then added, “Less and less with every failed relationship, though.”

TJ made a noise of understanding and stopped on a curb. “My mom used to say that being a romantic doesn’t mean you should wait for Prince Charming to come and sweep you off your feet. Sometimes . . . sometimes you have to go and find that Pauper and wait until he turns into your Prince Charming.” He looked down at her, her brown eyes unreadable. “She said that patience was a virtue, but a bittersweet one. Sometimes, you can be as patient as you can be, but your partner isn’t.”

“Smart lady,” Cora said, putting a hand on his arm. “I see that you got your patience from her, then, huh?”

“Too much of it,” TJ admitted after a moment, trying to hint without hinting.

The light turned and someone behind them pushed between them with an annoyed scoff. TJ felt how cold his arm was without her hand on it and wondered if he was just imagining things.

“Hey!” Cora yelled after them but didn’t bother chasing them down.

They continued their walk to the precinct, but just before they went it, Cora pulled them over to the side. TJ’s knuckles when went around the handle of his briefcase, but he didn’t protest it.

“I’ll try to be a bit nicer,” she said, the words falling from her mouth as if she had been practicing them the entire walk. “And show you more respect. The alligator was a bit of a dick-move.”

“And the reptile joke,” TJ tacked on.

Cora raised a brow but didn’t contest it. “And TJ? Keep being patient. Maybe you’ll find your Prince Charming sooner rather than later.” Cora gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and walked inside, while TJ just stared after her.

 _She couldn’t_ . . . _no_. No, no, no. “Don’t even start, Caruso,” he warned himself, flushing when a uniform noticed him talking to himself.

So TJ straightened his already straight tie and walked into the precinct, only to stop short when he noticed a poster tacked onto the front of his door. _Hang in there!_ a cat told him, hanging from a tree branch.

“Ok, very funny,” he said, not amused in the slightest. “Who did this?” Where he would have been quick to accuse Cora, instead he started with everyone. “I’m not going to be mad if someone just tells me who thought this would be funny?”

“I heard all the ruckus that Vasquez was making this morning,” Delgetty drawled, sipping from her mug, “and figured you needed some motivation to get through it all.”

But the sparkle in her eyes told a different story and TJ turned pink. 

“Right,” he coughed, “well, thank you, Captain, for your support.”

He stalked over to the door and took down the poster, holding it up carefully. Then as he smiled through the glass at the Captain, he stuck it on the wall, in full view everytime he looked up to check out the bullpen. And, out of pure, sheer coincidence, everytime he caught a glimpse of Cora at her desk, the poster was right there, never out of sight, never out of mind.

Just reminding him to be patient for a little while longer.

**Author's Note:**

> Might tack on a companion piece or two. What do you guys think?


End file.
